A florist, who did not wish to be named, claimed: “My husband said a man walked past and tripped over and sprained his ankle.

"There was a small hole in the ground. The manager at the cafe put some chairs and tables around it to corner it off.

“Then a woman came along with a trolley and moved them out of the way to walk through. A guy shouted at her not but it was too late, she’d fallen through.”

Another stall holder who heard the commotion said: “By the time we’d run across the road she was getting back on her feet.

“She fell into their cellar, luckily enough she was alright.”

A spokeswoman for Hammersmith and Fulham said its people had been on-site to make safe the area but that responsibility lay with the cafe.

A spokeswoman said: “The council’s structural engineer has carried out an initial investigation of the basement collapse in North End Road and secured the site.

"The freeholder of the property is legally responsible for the structural integrity of their basement but we are carrying out a full review of what’s happened and will ensure the site is made safe and all necessary actions are taken once we have a full understanding of how this occurred.

"We have no reports of a problem with the pavement before the basement collapsed. We will serve a notice on the owner to carry out repairs to our satisfaction before reopening the footway."

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “Officers and London ambulance attended, a woman was taken to west London hospital. There are no other reported injuries and no reports of child involved.